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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26534734">Over the Walls and Through the Woods</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/vividder/pseuds/vividder'>vividder</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Skulduggery Pleasant / Attack on Titan AU [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan, Skulduggery Pleasant - Derek Landy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Dimension Travel, Diplomacy, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:08:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>16,413</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26534734</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/vividder/pseuds/vividder</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>During the Battle of Shiganshina, Levi vanishes.<br/>Before his eyes, the world changes.<br/>At least they want to help.<br/>Things could be worse.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Levi &amp; Valkyrie Cain, Levi/Hange Zoë, Valkyrie Cain &amp; China Sorrows, Valkyrie Cain &amp; Fletcher Renn, Valkyrie Cain &amp; Skulduggery Pleasant, Valkyrie Cain &amp; Tanith Low</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Skulduggery Pleasant / Attack on Titan AU [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1929496</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. A Whole New World</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Levi watched the world disappear around him.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>This isn’t good, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he thought.  Had he not noticed some severe injury?  Was he in shock?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked down.  Saw blood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The world vanished again.  Something exploded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And when Levi looked up, a large, metallic beast headed straight for him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Levi dove out of the way, scattering pedestrians walking along the side of the street.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something made an obnoxious noise, probably the metallic...thing?  Box?  It had wheels, but Levi didn’t recognize it.  Definitely not drawn by horses.  Not a cart either.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi knew one thing: He no longer stood among the ruins of Shiganshina.  Buildings, taller than any he’d ever seen before (apart from the walls), surrounded him, spiralling into the sky.  Some made of metal, some of glass, one of black stone.  A large marble fountain sat in the center of the circle of roads he’d landed in.  The people, wearing odd clothes, nice clothes, stared and whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What the hell?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He couldn’t use the ODM gear here.  Too many people, too much activity.  Too much...noise.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>No one wore any uniform he could recognize.  No MPs, no other Scouts, no Garrison officers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi needed somewhere to think, somewhere he couldn’t be noticed.  Somewhere he could find a way back to his comrades.  A way back must exist.  This was impossible.  Maybe he’d finally gone off the deep end.  That had happened to a lot of people during the first attack on Shiganshina.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi spotted a cross-street and took off running.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A figure dressed in grey, with a mask hiding their face and a scythe strapped to their back, began to follow him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Levi tried to find an empty street, but this city baffled him.  It was simply too large and unlike anything he knew.  He was too visible, too obvious.  People filled the mazes of houses and shops and yelled as he ran by.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In fact, the people didn’t help.  They pointed out his location to the grey-clothed figure, who ran fast and hard.  Well, that left him no other option.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi fired his ODM hooks into the side of a tall, sturdy-looking building and reeled himself up, making his way towards the top.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>People on the ground gasped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The people in grey -- more had gathered -- stopped and turned their heads upwards.  He could get away.  They weren’t so clever after all.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Levi ran across the rooftops and up buildings -- avoiding the glass ones, the gear couldn’t latch on.  But every time he looked down, the people in grey followed him on foot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>On the horizon, he could see a wall.  The sight felt strangely comforting.  At least that had stayed the same in this strange place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, at least he knew not to go beyond that point.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi continued, the buildings getting smaller as he neared the edge of the business district.  On one edge of the city stood a castle, he’d avoid that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One of the downsides of the height, while advantageous under the situations Levi knew, was losing track of the people below.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When you’re fighting people, not meters-high Titans, flying through the sky quickly becomes a disadvantage.  Had the people in grey stopped chasing him?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And, to make matters worse, Levi couldn’t go on like this forever.  He’d run out of gas, probably when he needed it the most.  And he had to make sure he had some for when he returned to Shiganshina.  And if he fell from these buildings, it would be just as bad as being swatted by a Titan.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi knew he would need luck and every resource he could find -- if not to continue the fight, to get back to the Scouts’ headquarters.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He would regroup and get revenge.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The man in the suit came up between buildings like a bullet shot from a gun.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He didn’t have any ODM gear -- he didn’t seem to have anything to help hold him in the air at all.  But Levi couldn’t think about that.  He stood, drawing his blades.  He needed to get out of his place before he could figure out what kind of trick this guy was pulling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Something hit Levi in the back, right on the harness, and he felt a painful electric shock go through his body, freezing his limbs and sending him tumbling to the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man held a revolver pointed at Levi’s head.  Another person cuffed his hands and feet before the feeling returned to his limbs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Again: what the hell?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The person who’d cuffed his hands walked around and peered at his face.  Unlike the man in the suit, she was a young woman with long black hair.  She rubbed a hand across her mouth.  “I think I swallowed a fly while I was trying to catch him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You did look entirely professional squeezing your eyes shut against the wind, I must admit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She glared at him.  “Shut up.  Temper’s waiting on the street, yes?  Don’t want to keep Temper waiting.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah yes.  Temper.  Well, I suppose all good things must come to an end.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stop being dramatic.  First one to the ground wins.”  The woman took off running towards the edge of the roof, and leapt off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She always cheats at that game,” the man said, keeping his gun pointed at Levi as he wrenched him to his feet and walked him to the edge of the roof.  Unnervingly, he never stopped smiling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi couldn’t see any way to get away, not with his feet bound and not with the aftereffects of the shock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then the man jumped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He held Levi, and they floated slowly to the ground, buoyed by the air beneath them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No one treated this as unusual.  Levi wanted to scream.  He’d expected to die when the man had stepped over the edge.  This didn’t make any sense.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Somehow, the woman stood on the ground too, hands in the jumpsuit’s pockets, two sticks crossed across her back. Surrounding them stood more of the people in grey and police in uniform.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks for helping me out on this.”  One of the police separated from the group, holstered his weapon, and approached the man holding Levi.  The man shifted Levi in his grip and shook the offered hand.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s what friends do, after all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So you say.  But I know Valkyrie wouldn’t have let you turn this one down.  She’s gotta name a dimension, after all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi looked at the woman, watching the two men talk.  She must be Valkyrie, he figured.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If there is an upside to this situation at all, it’s that she finally stops calling the Leibniz Universe Dimension X.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but now this poor sap’s dimension is going to have that stupid name.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not stupid,” Valkyrie said, striding over.  She folded her arms.  “Are you okay if we call your universe Dimension X?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi raised an eyebrow at her.  He wasn’t going to make anything easier for these people.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She turned to the other men and her eyes widened.  “What if he doesn’t even speak English?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, we’ll figure that out later.  Get some of the linguists on it,” the man with the gun, the one who had floated from the sky, said.  “Temper, we’ll meet you at the High Sanctuary.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The police officer nodded.  “See you soon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then he was dragging Levi towards one of the metal contraptions that had nearly hit him upon his arrival in this strange place.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What a fucking day</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Skulduggery, Valkyrie, Hange</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The thing moved, and when it finally stopped, the officers dragged him out. They ended up in a dark room, filled with the same machines, in many different colors and varieties.  Two officers bundled Levi into a small room, which rose beneath his feet.  When the door opened, it revealed a brightly-lit hallway, which they dragged him down,  until they reached a small room.  Theyn they stripped him of his ODM gear and weapons (not that Levi made that easy for them), and left him to sit, one hand and both feet cuffed to the table.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A few minutes later, Valkyrie walked into the room and took the seat across from him, her back to the mirror against the opposite wall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Skulduggery’s taking a call, he’ll be in soon.”  She brushed some of her dark hair out of her eyes.  “You really surprised us, you know that?  Mind if we call your dimension Dimension X?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi glared at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That gear of yours is neat.  I mean, I think militaries or paramilitaries might have stuff like that grappling gear, but normal people?  No way. Skulduggery doesn’t even have that kind of stuff.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The door opened and a skeleton in a nice suit walked in.  Levi’s eyes widened.  He had to be hallucinating.  The skeleton, that was impossible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, let’s get this thing started.”  Valkyrie stood, standing next to the man.  “I’m Detective Cain and this is Detective Pleasant, of the Arbiter Corps.  Yes, he’s a skeleton.  Yes, it’s a long story.  No, please don’t ask him to tell it or he’ll talk to you for the next twenty years.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I haven’t been talking to you for twenty years quite yet,” the skeleton answered.  “Has he talked?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie, or Detective Cain, shook her head.  “I waited for you to ask any of the interesting stuff.  You’re welcome, by the way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Excellent.”  The skeleton leaned forward, boned hands on the table, and let his skull grin at Levi.  Detective Pleasant.  Must have been a play on words.  “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.  The easy way, I tell you about the woman found wearing your same uniform and insignia, halfway across town.  The hard way --”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Levi asked.  One of the Scout Regiment.  One of his comrades.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The easy way it is.”  Detective Pleasant stood back, reached  into his suit pocket, and handed a small object to Detective Cain.  “Thank you.”  Detective Cain tapped it several times.  “Now, as I was saying, a woman wearing the same uniform -- with minor variations, she doesn’t have the stupid collar -- fell out of the sky and landed on some people picnicking in a park.  Just a little shorter than Valkyrie, brown hair, brown eyes.  Again, around Detective Cain’s age.  Any idea who that might be?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Here.”  Valkyrie leaned forward and held out the small, thin box.  A window looked on to Hange’s face from above.  Well, what was left of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She must have gotten caught in the explosion.  Half her face was burnt, including her eye.  Blood ran down her forehead and over the red skin.  Her goggles were gone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked dead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie’s voice interrupted his thoughts.  “Do you know who this is?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where are they?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A few floors up, being treated for their injuries in the Sanctuary hospital,” Detective Pleasant answered.  “We won’t let them die.  But you have one last chance to answer the questions before Valkyrie turns you into a gibbering wreck and determines whether or not we send you back, or declare you an enemy agent and execute you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fuck.  He couldn’t just leave them to the mercy of these people.  Couldn’t leave any of his fellow soldiers.  Even as much as it meant abandoning the ones he’d disappeared from, right when they needed him most.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Who else was dead?  Who else would die?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Who would lead the Scouts?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Zoe Hange.”  One of the few people Levi could say he genuinely cared about.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that your name, or…?” Detective Cain said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Their name.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And your name?” Detective Pleasant asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Levi Ackerman.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And how did Zoe get blown to bits, Mr. Ackerman?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The battle to retake Shiganshina was a secret.  “An operation outside the walls went wrong.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What walls?” Detective Cain asked.  “Roarhaven’s walls?  Do you even have a Roarhaven in your dimension?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The walls in which all of humanity live.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So not Roarhaven.”  Detective Pleasant tilted his skull, interested.  “And why does humanity live within the walls, Mr. Ackerman?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The rest of the world is full of Titans.  Which eat people.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, luckily, we don’t have those here,” Detective Pleasant said.  “Here, mortals populate the Earth.  We sorcerers hide among them, protecting them.  You happen to have dropped into the hidden city of Roarhaven, what some call the first city for sorcerers.  Have you met any sorcerers, Mr. Ackerman?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Those are fairy tales.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh really?  Then how do you explain the fact that I’m standing in front of you -- that I flew you down from the building after your arrest?  That I’m a skeleton?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi didn’t really care about any of that.  “Are you going to take me to Hange or not?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Treating injuries like those is going to take hours.  We have plenty of time to get you back to your friend.  But back to the topic at hand, you must have met a sorcerer, or you wouldn’t be here.  Someone had to shunt you to our dimension.  And I think it’s safe to eliminate the possibility of the shunt being random, since you’re not dead.  So you must have met one of our sorcerers before.  Do you remember meeting anyone strange before you showed up here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was a little busy before I showed up here.  Fucking Titans everywhere, remember?”  Levi was getting really frustrated.  “Now, if you’re done asking stupid questions, let me get Hange and go.  My soldiers need me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not much of what he’d said had been a lie.  Titans had been everywhere.  It didn’t matter that some happened to be humans wearing Titan bodies.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright then,” Detective Pleasant said.  Even Detective Cain seemed slightly surprised by that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re just going to let him go?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, of course not.  Someone’s discovered another dimension and seems to be manipulating circumstances there for their own gain. And he’s not going to be able to get a Shunter to take him back unless someone contacts one of the other Sanctuaries for one, which they won’t do unless China authorizes it.  And China won’t authorize it if Valkyrie asks her politely.”  The skeleton brushed a bit of invisible lint from his tie.  “He’ll be here for a few days at least while their comrade heals and while we work.  I can spare a few minutes.  As a show of good faith that we won’t go back on our word.  Valkyrie, show Levi the restrooms and take off the cuffs.  Levi, get cleaned off.  If you run, Valkyrie will break your legs.  I’ll meet you in the Medical Wing in either case.”  And with that, Detective Pleasant left the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once the door shut, Valkyrie took a key from a pocket inside her jumpsuit and unlocked the keys.  “Sorry about that, Skulduggery gets a little violent sometimes.”  She collected the handcuffs in one hand, then stepped back and let Levi stand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi rubbed his wrists, where the metal had bitten into his skin.  Valkyrie let him go first out the door, then directed him through the winding hallways, patrolled by the same people in grey and the same officers he’d seen outside, to a restroom.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The lights in here reminded him of the glowing ore from the Reiss caverns.  Only instead of just using it in handheld lights, these people used it everywhere.  The bathroom (filthy), the hallways, the small rooms that moved up and down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are these called?” he asked, after he came out of the bathroom and took him to one of those things.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Elevators.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie pressed a button, and this one went upwards.  The sides were made of glass, and once they rose above the ground, Levi could see the city beneath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could see where he’d arrived.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Skulduggery met them in a small waiting area, where he was speaking with a woman in a white coat.  She raised one gloved hand when Levi and Valkyrie entered.  “Let’s go somewhere more private to talk,” she said quickly, then swiped something against a box on the wall and opened the door on the back wall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They followed her to a room with a few chairs and a table, and several boxes stacked against the wall.  Something flat and black was mounted on one wall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi couldn’t help the expression of disgust at the space.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m Dr. Synecdoche.”  The woman held out a hand for Levi to shake.  He accepted it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Levi.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The others took seats at the table.  Levi stayed standing.  He didn’t want to touch anything in here.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He felt naked without his gear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The doctor pulled out a folded paper and a strange quill from her coat, and began to read from it, and write on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Skulduggery tells me that the person we recovered from the park is named Zoe Hange, is that correct?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And do you have reason to believe that they would, for any reason, object to you receiving their medical information?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is your relation to Zoe Hange?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The thought that they might be his commander now crossed his mind.  “We serve in the same military unit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The doctor scribbled something down, then spun the paper around and handed it to Levi.  “Sign on the line.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He took the quill -- thicker, made of some strange hard material -- and signed.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dr. Synecdoche took the paper and tucked it back into her coat.  “Your  --”, she paused, looking for the word.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Comrade,” Levi supplied, because they didn’t have time for this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your comrade is severely injured, confirmed by Sanctuary doctors -- and Detective Pleasant -- to be explosion wounds.  They have burns on around a quarter of their body, multiple lacerations -- most notably their right thigh, which was not armored.  We’re putting pins in to fix the shoulder and hip on that side too.  Internal bleeding, mostly from a punctured lung and spleen rupture due to the concussion blast.  And their left eye could not be saved, even with magic.”  She turned towards Valkyrie.  “Miss Cain--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie shot a harsh glare at the doctor, who was quiet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have the best mortal and magical medical technology in our facilities.  Your comrade will likely survive and recover, although it will take time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How much time?” Levi asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A few days, more or less.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can that be reduced?” Skulduggery asked.  “From the looks of things, these two have a war to return to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can forgo cosmetic repairs.  But this is as long as it will take.  We’re already using magic to speed up the healing process.  In the mortal world, they would need months of therapy and repair surgeries and would most likely remain disabled for the rest of their life.  And that’s if they survived in the first place.  Shunting saved them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You healed me after Devastation Day in a few hours,” Valkyrie said.  “Why not do that again?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You were a special case.  Also, your injuries were far less severe.  You had protective clothing.  This armor is made from leather.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi knew that the scouts would be dead by the end of the day without him or Hange to lead, to help.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want to see them.” Levi interrupted the bickering.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not until they’re out of surgery.  We’re keeping them out of the more central facilities.  Despite attempts to change their attitudes, most sorcerers just don’t like mortals and wouldn’t be very happy to know one was using their best medical facilities.  It’s for their safety.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi glared at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When you can see them, I’ll let the Arbiters know.  Until then, you’ll just have to sit tight.”  The doctor stood.  “Well, I have to go.  Don’t get into too much trouble, and I trust you to see yourselves out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skulduggery took the strange flat thing from his pocket again.  It briefly illuminated, then he replaced it.  “Excellent timing.  The Supreme Mage awaits.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Supreme Mage</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When Levi saw the Supreme Mage, he bowed, and totally forgot why he had come.  She was the most beautiful woman in any universe, her elegance boundless, her grace limitless.  He would do whatever she said.  He would follow her to the ends of the earth.  He would--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Amused yourself, have you?” Skulduggery asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Very much so, I rarely get to meet new people these days.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi stood up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was beautiful, yes.  Absolutely stunning.  But not paralyzing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A conniving bitch, then.  That trait didn’t change no matter which universe you were in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Apologies.  I am Supreme Mage China Sorrows.”  She had black hair and blue eyes and wore an understated black dress, and she looked down upon her visitors from her throne.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I don’t make time to meet with all visitors from other dimensions, but since yours is unfamiliar to us, I figured I could carve out some space in my schedule.  Skulduggery tells me your name is Levi Ackerman.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi gave a curt nod.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He also tells me there’s a war.  Sorcerers are, unfortunately, not unfamiliar with that darker part of human nature.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re not fighting humans.  We’re fighting Titans.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But a human had to shunt you over here, so I believe those Titans probably have a few tricks up their sleeves.  You’re not stupid.  So tell me, you know you are fighting humans, yes or no?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi gritted his teeth.  “Yes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good.”  Her voice turned ice-cold.  “Don’t try to hide things from me, Mr. Ackerman.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can hide whatever I damn well please.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a moment of tension.  Then China Sorrows laughed.  “Well, now that the pleasantries are out of the way, I have a proposal for you, Mr. Ackerman.  Your enemies must have a sorcerer on their side, maybe more than one.  I’d like to offer to even the field.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi knew she’d want something in return.  But the Scouts would be dead by the end of the day.  She might be the key to speeding this shit up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was backed against a wall, and even though these people couldn’t know how bad the situation truly was, they could smell the blood.  Just like Titans themselves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m having a good day.  Consider it a trade.  Knowledge of your dimension and opening relations with your people, in exchange for helping you take care of your Titan problem.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This seemed too simple.  “Why bother?  You have technology we couldn’t even dream of and most of the world is uninhabitable.  No offense, but you don’t strike me as a person who does things solely out of the goodness of your heart.  So what is it you really want?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>China didn’t speak for a moment.  “I told you he was a smart one,” Skulduggery said quietly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Almost reminds me of Valkyrie, when she was young.  Except I don’t think he’s going to make the mistake of ever trusting me.  Oh, how the wisdom of age dulls the optimism of youth.”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, well, those days are over, China,” Valkyrie said.  “So, tell Levi what you really want.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want you to guess,” China said to Valkyrie, with a smile.  It didn’t reach her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not more refugees, but that’s what it seems like you’ll be getting.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>China hummed.  “Getting closer.  Where did those Refugees come from?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dimension--The Leibniz Universe.”  Valkyrie’s eyes widened.  “You want to wage war on them?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course not.  That would be foolish. But you know the situation there is devolving.  We need to be prepared in the event they make the first move.  I doubt they could predict this.” China looked to Levi again.  “I saw the video of you using the rappelling gear to escape the City Guard.  Partnered with sorcerers and their abilities, your people could wreak untold havoc.  And I rather prefer to be the one wreaking havoc, rather than cleaning it up.”  She gestured to Valkyrie and Skulduggery.  “And you get a trial run of seeing what sorcerers can do in combat before you agree.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi thought for a minute.  The offer still bordered on too-good-to-be-true territory.  If the war with whatever the Leibniz Universe was never happened, they’d have allies with no strings attached.  But if it did...so many people had died already.  Continued to die as this woman sat in her opulent palace, fiddling with a bracelet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But fuck if they could afford to waste any opportunity to shorten this war and figure out what the hell was going on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t have the rank to make this alliance.  I just want to get Hange and get back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Understandable.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your rank?” Skulduggery asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Captain.  Hange’s a captain too.  Might be commander now, depending on how things went.  Or we might not have any rank at all if everyone’s dead.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie watched him intently, but Levi didn’t care.  “Long story short, we need to get back.  Come or not, I don’t care.  But you better not slow us down.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>China smiled.  “We’ll get you back, don’t worry.  And I feel as if it would be impolite to tell you to enjoy Roarhaven, given the recent events you allude to.  But feel free to take advantage of our amenities.  We’ll set up an account for you and Captain Hange at the bank.  I’ll draft up some proposed terms of agreement and find a Shunter.  Welcome to Roarhaven, Captain Ackerman.  You’re dismissed, but Valkyrie, I’d like to talk for a minute.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skulduggery and Levi looked at her.  “It’s fine.  You go on.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally, Levi just had to ask.  “How can you talk?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Magic,” Skulduggery answered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What else does magic do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skulduggery snapped his fingers and held a fireball in his palm.  “I can control air, fire, water, and earth as an Elemental mage.”  He snuffed it out.  “But there are a variety of magical disciplines.  China’s a symbol mage, she’s probably the most knowledgeable person in the world when it comes to sigils.  Some people can control death, some can throw energy, some can just speak any language in the world.  That last one’s kind of useless, by the way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What can Valkyrie do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s a Sensitive.  She can manipulate minds.  Of course, she can do quite a bit more than that.  She’s a special case.  Magic is usually filtered through a true name, but she no longer has one.  Theoretically, there’s no limit to what she could do if the theories are correct.  But of course, Valkyrie won’t stand around and be tested by the Science-Magic folks all day, so we may never know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>‘What’s your true name?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skulduggery shrugged.  “I’ve done a great many things in my life that I regret, but I do not regret never learning my true name.  Every mage I’ve met that has learned their true name has suffered for it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Figures.”  Figures that would be consistent between universes.  Levi was reminded of Eren Jaeger.  How much pain had his power brought him?  Maybe some secrets should never have been learned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie emerged from the chamber, looking rather annoyed.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What did China want?” Skulduggery asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She gestured to Levi.  “He’s coming home with me, apparently.  China doesn’t want to leave him in the Humdrums.  I mean, never mind that I had plans.  Does she forget I have a life now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Most likely.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie suddenly realized how she had sounded.  “I mean, it’s not a problem.  Just that I never get to see my friend anymore since she’s off being a mercenary now.  We were going to go for drinks with my girlfriend, but you know…?” She shrugged.  “It’s no problem.  There’s plenty of room in my house.  Do you like dogs?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This confused Levi.  “Why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have a dog.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why would you keep a dog in your house?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s my pet?”  Valkyrie’s jaw dropped.  “You don’t have pets?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We don’t keep animals we can’t eat.  We can barely feed all the humans inside the walls.  The animals aren’t attacked by the Titans and can go eat whatever they want outside the walls.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fair point.  Well, Xena’s friendly and house-trained.”  She patted Levi on the shoulder.  “You’ll get along just fine.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Meet Again</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>They spent time wandering around the High Sanctuary while they waited for Dr. Synecdoche to call.  They went for food, which amazed Levi.  The cafeteria, as Valkyrie called it, had a massive kitchen with so many different foods, not just whatever they could make with their allotted rations.  Levi was beginning to think they didn’t have to ration here.  They had the entire world, almost, to farm and use.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone could eat as much as they wanted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Except for Skulduggery, who didn’t eat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie took advantage of the time to use her little device -- cell phone -- to speak into.  She spoke, and people far away answered.  She tapped her fingers across the screen to write letters, which arrived instantly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This had to be magic, Levi decided.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Access to something like this would be invaluable on the battlefield.  Much easier to know the situation than hoping a recruit hadn’t pulled the wrong signal gun from their belt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You need new clothes,” Valkyrie said.  She’d put down her phone for a minute.  “I mean, it’s kind of normal for people to look like a mess around here, but you’ve still got blood and dirt on your clothes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s right,” Skulduggery said (how did he see without eyes?).  “We Arbiters have an image to maintain.  One of class and violence and clever minds.  Your current outfit does not make people think you have neither class nor a clever mind.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi’s eyes narrowed.  He couldn’t decide if he liked the skeleton or not.  He probably disliked him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Skulduggery’s just making that up,” Valkyrie said.  “I texted Fletcher.  He’ll be over soon.  Whenever Corrival’s lessons end.  He’s bringing clothes from the lost and found, or the donation bin, or something.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He may steal them,” Skulduggery added.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He will not steal them, because Fletcher is a changed man.  Skulduggery just dislikes him out of principle.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then a blonde man appeared next to the table.  Levi jumped and nearly knocked over the chair.  “What the hell?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We did not get to the part where we mentioned Fletcher could teleport,” Valkyrie muttered.  “Slight oversight there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blonde man wore slacks and a collared shirt.  An insignia over the breast pocket read “Corrival Academy”.  He carried two flimsy-looking bags in his hands, filled to the brims with clothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Valkyrie, Skulduggery, Levi.  Fletcher Renn Deliveries, at your service.  Good whenever anyone needs a favor, regardless of whatever the hell I happen to be doing at the moment.”  He stopped being sarcastic and turned to Levi.  “Sorry for the surprise.  But these two really should have mentioned the teleporting.”  He set the bags on the table.  “These are from Corrival Academy’s donation center.  For underprivileged students apparently, but we don’t have a lot of those, so I don’t feel bad taking this stuff.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi began to look through the bags.  Some were made from materials he had never felt before.  Others had designs and emblems.  Valkyrie must have told Fletcher something about his size, as a lot of the things looked like they might fit.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie and Fletcher had begun chatting about Fletcher’s job and Valkyrie’s dog.  “I’m going to try these on,” he said.  “Thank you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As he walked away from the table, he could hear Fletcher speak.  “Quiet one, isn’t he?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Levi returned.  He’d found a pair of blue pants, a shirt with the words “Pierce the Veil” on it (no idea what that meant), and a thin, black jacket with pockets on the outside and inside.  The clothes smelled clean, and Levi had to push the thought that they might not be from his mind.  Fletcher grinned when he returned.  “Aside from the weird boots, you’d fit right in at the Academy after-hours.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi handed back the bags, the clothes now neatly folded.  He’d rested his own clothes on one arm -- folded, of course.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s all you wanted?” Fletcher asked.  “Take whatever, I don’t care.  Valkyrie’s going to pay me back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“At least take another pair of pants and a shirt,” Valkyrie said.  “If it’s a few days, you don’t want to do laundry every day.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi didn’t know anyone else who tried to wash their clothes more often than once a week, but she was correct.  Even the more slovenly soldiers kept a change of clothing on hand when they could.  He selected a pair of black pants and a wrinkled white shirt.  “Thank you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, don’t worry about it.  Not your fault someone shunted you here.”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They bid farewell, and then Fletcher, carrying the bags, just vanished on the spot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Teleported.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Whatever, it was still weird.  And Levi didn’t like it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Skulduggery got a notice from Dr Synecdoche, and the group returned to the medical wing.  Levi had to remind himself to keep breathing.  Hange had stayed at the back of his mind this entire time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The worst possible scenarios kept flashing through his mind.  What if they’d lost a limb?  Become brain-damaged?  What if their fingers swelled or melted together or trembled too much for them to return to science?  What if they didn’t remember anything?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dr. Synecdoche spoke, but Levi couldn’t listen.  He curled his hands into fists to stop from fidgeting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She lead them down a maze of hallways to a back room, and touched the objects to open every door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neither Valkyrie nor Skulduggery moved when they reached Hange’s room.  Levi paused, then went in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could see the end of the bed.  One of the feet was elevated.  Going further into the room, Levi saw more of their body.  They lay under a white sheet, wearing a green garment.  Their right arm was in a sling, bandaged.  He could see the scars from the burns and the cuts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A bandage covered their right eye.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Hange whispered through strained and burned vocal cords.  “No, if you’re here…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.  I know.”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi approached the bed, but stopped.  His first reaction was to comfort his old friend, but there were so many tubes and wires and bandages -- Hange looked like they would fall apart if he even breathed on them.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi turned.  Valkyrie had walked in with someone.  Skulduggery.  But not Skulduggery.  But wearing his clothes.  But not a skeleton.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie grabbed his arm and pulled him out as Skulduggery protested and she shushed him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What...what’s going on?  Who were they?  They’re all dead…”  Hange’s thoughts all ran together.  The doctors must have drugged them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re in another dimension.”  Levi looked at the bed and managed to find a way to sit on their less-injured side, and put his arm around their shoulders.  He could tell Hange had started crying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi wished he could cry too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But he felt like he’d run out of tears years ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s impossible,” Hange said through their tears, sounding more like themselves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They can fucking fly,” Levi said, nearly laughing at the absurdity of the situation.  “Hange, these people can fly without ODM gear.  They can move people through dimensions.  The black haired girl can read minds.  There’s a walking skeleton around here somewhere.”  Levi looked at the ceiling.  “I don’t even know what’s real or impossible anymore.  Maybe everyone died and we just lost our minds.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck,” Hange breathed through their tears.  “Fuck everything.  Why did this happen to us?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The sorcerers hypothesize it’s a deliberate attack.  Take out the strongest, and leave everyone else to flail around.  I don’t disagree.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hange looked at him.  “And a person has to initiate the transfer?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“As far as I know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How’d they even get someone to do that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi shrugged.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god…” they muttered.  “They’re all dead.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not even scientific curiosity could distract anyone from that fact.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Grimwood House</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Levi got his gear back right before he left with Valkyrie.  He put it on, then immediately had to take it off when he couldn’t fit in the car while wearing it.  They put it in the trunk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Horses are less confusing,” he muttered, which made Valkyrie laugh as she started driving.  She waved to the person on the ramp up to the surface.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They drove in silence for several miles.  Levi couldn’t help but notice the number of houses, businesses, cars, everything.  It was overwhelming.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, China wanted to get me to read your mind.  Figured you should know,” Valkyrie said, totally conversationally, out of the blue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Doesn’t trust you.  I’d say she wants to make sure she’s not sending people to die, but it’s more like, how would she make up for lost resources, how will this go down in the history books, would it make basically the rest of the world’s magical communities revolt against her...sympathy isn’t her strong suit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie laughed again.  “You would notice if I did.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Why did you tell me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because I want to trust you.  Because I know people in your world are dying and you can’t afford to turn your back on any help you can get.  Because China Sorrows is a sneaky bitch and will turn on you in a heartbeat if she thinks it will help her, and you should know that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I figured that last one out.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good.  Took me way too long.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How long have you known her?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I met her when I was twelve.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a moment of silence. “How long have you known Hange?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Since I joined the Scouts.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie glazed at Levi.  “Which are?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are the Scouts?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“We explore outside the walls to see what we can find.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you find?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi sighed.  “Mostly Titans.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I kinda guessed that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They drove the rest of the way in silence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie pulled up to a freaking estate.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was even a statue in the driveway.  She had acres of land, and none of it was farmed (Levi really wondered where the food came from).</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stopped in front of the house and got out.  Levi followed her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everything here seemed so much bigger than what he’d ever known.  This world, without its walls, these sorcerers ruling from a castle, this strange food that didn’t need farms or ranches.  Too big even for horses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wondered if the same stuff existed outside the walls in his universe.  At one point, he wouldn’t have believed anyone might have been out there.  But now...now he wasn’t sure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie stood in the doorway, holding the dog by its collar.  “Grab your gear!” she said, and Levi pulled his ODM gear and harness from the trunk, then slammed it shut, just like he’d seen Valkyrie do.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He approached the dog.  It wagged its tail and drooled.  “Hold out your hand so she can sniff it.  She might lick it too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi did, and the dog struggled against Valkyrie’s hold.  “Closer!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi took another step and the dog shoved its nose into his palm and ran a slimy tongue over his fingers.  “Now pet her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Awkwardly, Levi took his slimy hand and patted the dog’s head.  Valkyrie grinned.  “Xena likes you.  Ready?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Levi didn’t even answer before she released the collar and the dog began dancing around him, waving its tail and bouncing up onto two paws.  “Xena, down!” Valkyrie commanded, and the dog sat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi looked at his filthy, disgusting hand.  “I still don’t understand the point of this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie had the gall to laugh at him again.  But at least she had soap in her house, and he didn’t have to pet the dog again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She showed Levi upstairs.  “This used to be my uncle’s house.  He left it to me when he died.  Here’s the gym...here’s his old study, I still like to come in here and read...here’s the bathroom...and this will be your room.”  She opened the door onto a plain white room what was dusty as could be.  Some boxes sat against the wall, some clothes crumpled on a chair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi did not want to sleep here.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you even know how to clean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry that I did not foresee your arrival.  I’ve been a bit busy to have visions recently.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The dog sat by Valkyrie’s feet.  Levi did not want it in the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Never mind.  I’ll do it.  Doesn’t bother me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie shrugged.  “If you want to.  But you don’t have to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll do it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The supplies are under the kitchen sink.  Help yourself.  Also, what do you want to eat?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bread’s nice.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie sighed.  “Have you ever had pizza?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi had never heard of pizza, so Valkyrie ordered two.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After eating pizza, she convinced him to show her the ODM gear.  The sun hung low in the sky, slowly darkening the woods.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi spotted a tall tree, and fired a hook into a sturdy branch, swinging up on to it.  He didn’t understand why she was so curious about this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With all their advanced technologies, the fact that the people in this universe didn’t know about ODM gear startled him.  But they’d never had to fight Titans.  They never needed it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were so lucky.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re Spider-Man!” Valkyrie shouted from the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi had no idea what that meant.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>White light emerged from her skin, and Valkyrie shot into the air, nearly missing the branch she aimed for.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wanted to do that,” she said, grinning.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Skulduggery texted me,” Valkyrie said as they went inside.  “Tomorrow’s a prep day for your return.  Gear repairs, rallying a team.  That fun stuff.  Showing China you can be trusted.  Which means,” she opened the door for Levi, “giving her something.  Something we can build a strategy from.  Even though that doesn’t really work for us, it’s the thought that counts, Skulduggery says.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She went into another room and grabbed a pen and paper.  “So, what’s going on?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Levi found himself explaining everything to Valkyrie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So from what you’re telling me, we need people with vertical mobility.  Flying, et cetera.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sun had gone down.  The only light came from the electric ones Valkyrie had in the house.  Xena curled up in a corner.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Levi said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So flying and swords.  Great.”  Valkyrie scribbled on the papers.  “Skulduggery, me, Tanith Low -- she’s a mercenary, but she can control gravity, and...we need at least one more person.”  She tapped her pen to her chin.  “He is going to hate me for this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fletcher.  Doesn’t want to get dragged into this stuff anymore, which I understand.  But...if anything goes really wrong, we’re going to need speed on our side.  Especially if your friend is still not back to their usual self.”  Valkyrie looked up.  “Is it worth it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everyone who’s ever died because they couldn’t escape a Titan would say so.”  Levi leaned forward.  “We all have to do things we don’t want to do.  Make choices we don’t want to make.  Hurt people we don’t want to hurt.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie didn’t move for a moment.  Her eyes hardened.  “I’d like to believe there’s more to life than that.  I have to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her hand shook.  “Do you blame yourself for your soldiers dying?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I blame the son of a bitch that crippled our forces by sending Hange and I away.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie spun the pen in her hand and pointed the end at Levi.  “Fuck if I don’t need to be a psychic to know you’re a liar there.”  Her voice stayed hard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Two could play that game.  “You’d spare your friends’ feelings over thousands of lives?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I tried that once.  I’m never going to do it again.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Day Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The next day, Valkyrie and Levi acted like the previous evening had never happened.  Valkyrie wore her black suit again, and Levi wore his own clothes, which had been washed in a machine.  He brought his gear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They met Skulduggery at the High Sanctuary, and without Levi even asking, he lead them to the Medical Wing.  Valkyrie held up her notebook and started in another direction.  “I’m going to talk to the Supreme Mage.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dr. Synecdoche let them back to Hange’s room -- Commander Hange now -- and right before they went in, Levi witnessed a face -- a normal face, with skin and eyes and hair -- flow over Skulduggery’s skull.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So he didn’t want Hange to know his true nature.  Levi had to keep an eye on that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This morning, they sat in a chair.  Someone had brought in a small black box for them to play with.  “Levi!  Look at this!  It’s called a radio.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their voice sounded a little better.  “It makes noise.  You can hear people talk, music, whatever.  And the sound for it comes through the air!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How are you doing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hange set the box on their lap and frowned.  The weight of the world suddenly seemed to settle on their shoulders.  “I don’t know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skulduggery cleared his throat.  “I know the radio is a marvel, but I would like to make sure everyone’s on the same page before the Supreme Mage arrives.  Or we go to the Supreme Mage.  Valkyrie will figure that out.  Anyway, I’m Detective Skulduggery Pleasant.  A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”  He extended a gloved hand to Hange, who took it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Capt--Commander Zoe Hange.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please excuse me if I skip the pleasantries.  Someone, a sorcerer from our dimension, has shunted you -- mortals from your dimension -- into our dimension.  From the notes Valkyrie photographed and sent to me last night--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Photographed?” Hange asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Made an image using captured reflected light,” Skulduggery explained without missing a beat, “--you’re fighting more than mindless beasts.  And the other side used a sorcerer from another dimension to cheat and pull two high-ranking officers off the battlefield.  Well, I’m just the kind of person who likes to level the field.  Supreme Mage Sorrows, the leaders of the sorcerers from this dimension, is crafting a letter to your leaders outlining a diplomatic agreement.  Tomorrow, we shunt back.  Before we continue, I must warn you, Commander, that this will be shocking.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The half of Hange’s face that wasn’t scarred smiled.  “I like shocking.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skulduggery reached his hands to his collarbones and tapped them.  The face flowed away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the hell?” they yelped.  They grabbed Levi with their free arm.  “Did you know about this?  It’s a skeleton!  How is it a skeleton?  How does it talk?  How does it grow and ungrow skin?  Do all sorcerers do this when they die?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“To answer your questions,” Skulduggery said.  “Yes, magic, magic, magic, no.  I was an experiment that no one wishes to repeat.  Possibly because it was a war crime, possibly because no one else could pull off this look.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hange leaned forward in their chair, then balanced on one foot, using her good arm to grip the chair.  “That’s amazing,” they breathed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Some of the old shine returned to their eyes.  It vanished just as quickly.  They sat down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anyway, today’s agenda.”  Skulduggery clapped his hands.  “Get China to write the note, gather the team and equipment -- including fixing your gear, Commander -- learn how to kill Titans, and get any affairs in the Prime Dimension in order before we go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie and Supreme Mage Sorrows walked into the hospital room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wonderful timing,” Skulduggery said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are they skeletons too?” Hange asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can’t all be so lucky,” China Sorrows said, brushing some invisible dirt from her sleeve.  She extended her hand to Hange, who shook it.  “Supreme Mage Sorrows.  I take it you’re feeling better?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hange bowed their head and saluted with their fist across their chest.  “Commander Zoe Hange.  And yeah, I am.  It’s weird though.  My injuries should have been lethal.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Magic and technology can sometimes be two sides of the same coin.  We encourage this research in Roarhaven.  I am not a woman to brag, but I would say the best of what sorcerers the world over can offer is right within this building.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi disliked Sorrows even more thoroughly now that he’d met her a second time.  But Hange, torn between grief and distraction, always took the distraction.  They were hooked on the Supreme Mage’s every word.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can see that,” they said.  “It’s impressive.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t say another word, she’ll only become more full of herself,” Skulduggery warned Hange.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have never been full of myself in my life,” China said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie rolled her eyes.  “Okay, well, this is fun and all, but I believe the unprecedented interdimensional alliance could use some discussion, yes?  And Skulduggery, you don’t get to call anyone full of themselves.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She nearly matches you,” China murmured.  “Although I knew she would when I first met her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Valkyrie is both correct and incorrect,” Skulduggery said.  “We do need to talk about the alliance.  However, I can call anyone anything I like.  It’s one of the privileges of being dead.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How is that related to being dead?” Valkyrie asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Enough,” China snapped.  “These are the terms of agreement I’ve drafted.  Our soldiers will help you against the Titan-Shifters and their allies to achieve military and diplomatic goals until a point of peace is reached or your people do harm unto them.  In return, your soldiers will come to our dimension to serve in the event Roarhaven is attacked by the Leibniz Universe, for the purpose of protecting civilians.”  She smiled.  “Minimal loss of life for you, but it would free up people to defend life as we know it in this dimension.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why is the Leibniz Universe after you?” Levi asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“In that world, Mevolent leads sorcerers, which lead the world, enslaving all mortals.  We are simply something else to conquer and mold into his image.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would they come for us?” Hange asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We intend on keeping your dimension as secret as can be,” Skulduggery said.  “So I doubt it.  And you have no Shunters.  You have nothing they want, I’m afraid.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would your leaders accept these terms of agreement?” China asked Hange.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hange tapped her chin with one finger.  “I think they’ll have to,” they whispered.  “If we really lost that many people at Shiganshina, we won’t have the manpower to keep defending ourselves, especially if the Titan-Shifters continue their attack.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then we will send an envoy of our best when we shunt you back.  Valkyrie here has made some selections based off of Levi’s suggestions.  I agree with the team she’s selected.  Valkyrie and Skulduggery will come, of course, there’s no one better to save the world; Tanith Low, a mercenary, will also come, her primary skills are wearing leathers and using a sword, and Fletcher Renn.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“His hair defies logic and reason,” Skulduggery said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Our last Teleporter.” China eyed Skulduggery.  “We would appreciate it if you returned him in one piece.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, your description of these people doesn’t inspire confidence,” Hange muttered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re better than we sound,” Valkyrie said.  “China just doesn’t like Tanith or Fletcher.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I do not,” China agreed.  “They will arrive later this morning on official summons.  But first, to repair your gear.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the time they left the armory and ate lunch, the Supreme Mage had gathered the others.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A nurse pushed Hange to the throne room full of prisms, then left with a nod.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fletcher and Valkyrie split off from the rest of the group, hissing at each other with lowered voices.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is too much,” Hange whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi knew how they felt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yesterday, everything seemed to take so long.  Today, everything moved so fast.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Valkyrie, Fletcher, I do not recall you being schoolchildren.  Which means you will not use this time to argue like them.”  The Supreme Mage glared at the two.  They shut up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi could relate.  Even though Cadets had learned discipline in their training, sometimes they could not practice what they studied for the life of them.  He had never envied Erwin, nor anyone else that worked so closely with the new soldiers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tomorrow, you will be heading to the place Valkyrie now calls “Dimension X” to engage on the first intentional interdimensional diplomatic mission.  Knowing the sorcerers among us, I half expect it to fail.  Neither side can afford that outcome.  The mortals are Captain Levi Ackerman and Commander Zoe Hange of the Scout Regiment.  From the report Valkyrie and Captain Ackerman gave me, these mortals belong to their equivalent of the Dead Men.”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi and Hange exchanged a look.  Neither of them had heard of the Dead Men, but it didn’t sound good.  The blonde woman in the sleeveless shirt looked impressed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And thus, you will take their lead,” China continued.  She turned her head to Levi and Hange.  “The sorcerers accompanying you are Skulduggery Pleasant, Valkyrie Cain, Tanith Low, Fletcher Renn, and Luke Skywalker.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The room went silent for a moment.  Then Valkyrie laughed.  Tanith howled and had to lean against a pillar.  Even Fletcher looked taken aback.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s a ridiculous name!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t call you that,” Tanith wheezed.  “Nope.  How have you not been sued?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re good movies!” the Shunter exclaimed.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skulduggery had started shaking his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What were you thinking?” Valkyrie tried to get herself under control.  She was failing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I mean, I want to travel and adventure to all those different worlds and I want to save people.  I want to do good things.  So I thought, hey, there’s not a better person to represent that than Luke Skywalker.  It’s really not that funny.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you kidding?  That’s hilarious.”  Tanith’s face was red.  Then she noticed something.  “Hey!  Ever seen Star Wars?” she asked Levi and Hange.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No?” Levi said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie elbowed her.  “They don’t even have TV.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tanith put a hand over her heart.  “Please tell me they have sarcasm.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They have sarcasm,” Valkyrie confirmed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi had no idea why they wouldn’t have sarcasm.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you done?” China asked.  Everyone quickly straightened up.  “You have the rest of the day to prepare.  You leave tomorrow morning.  Figure out what you need, how to fight Titans, what you will do in case something goes wrong.  You’re not the Dead Men, but you’ll have to do their job.”  China walked down from her pedestal and out a door on the other side of the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tanith strolled over to Levi and Hange.  “So when do we get to learn to kill Titans?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They found an empty conference room and a whiteboard, and got to work.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The weak spot on a Titan is right at the nape of the neck, one meter high and ten centimeters wide,” Hange said, marking the spot with an X on their lazy illustration of a Titan.  “You have to destroy that to kill them.  Preferred technique is to use two blades and cut across the neck, but cannon fire can get the job done too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We will not be taking a cannon,” Skulduggery said.  Tanith and Valkyrie looked disappointed.  “How deep?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Through the muscle, at least.  But you can weaken them first if you go for the eyes or exposed tendons, like the Achilles.  However, if you don’t finish the job, they’ll regenerate before too long.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The mindless Titans are easy.  It’s the abnormals we need to watch out for,” Levi said.  “Normal Titans just go wherever humans are and try and grab them.  They’re clumsy and stupid, and they wouldn’t be a problem if there weren’t so fucking many of them everywhere.  It’s the Abnormals we need to watch out for.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hange nodded, then banged her fist on the whiteboard.  “Do not kill them!  They’re humans that can transform into Titans.  Captain Levi was entrusted with a serum that will allow us to take their powers and transfer them to one of our own.  If they die, the power dies with them.  And we need that power more than ever now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi looked at Valkyrie.  “Turn them into vegetables and we can take them with us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie glared at Skulduggery.  “Skulduggery lied to you when he said I could do that.  I mean, I could probably do it, but there’s a good chance they’d recover.  That’s what happened last time I tried to alter someone’s mind.  We can’t rely on it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course they’d lied to him.  Levi couldn’t help but glare at the skeleton.  He didn’t seem to notice nor care.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And he’d thought the Survey Corps was full of lunatics.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll bring rope,” Skulduggery decided.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Sea</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>That night, Valkyrie was unusually quiet as she prepared for the trip and grabbed a few extra things for Levi, who cleaned her house (for the dog to mess it up again.  Infuriating).</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi lived in the quiet.  He didn’t speak much.  He never expected to speak outside of battle unless asked a question or given a task that required his leadership.  But knowing how the battle at Shiganshina must have ended…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It pained him, knowing he’d see the battlefield again, covered in rotting bodies.  He hadn’t had time to think about the fact everyone was dead.  He’d been too wired the first night.  But now, nothing else occupied his mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had to clean, or he’d lose his mind.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have to say goodbye to my family,” Valkyrie said.  She twirled her keys around her finger, then stopped.  “Have you just been cleaning my house this entire afternoon?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi didn’t say a word.  He just kept trying to get the last bit of dust out of the bookshelf.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, this isn’t doing you any good.  Come on, we’ll stop for Chinese.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why?” Levi asked.  “Why do you care?  They’re your family.  Don’t have to bring me if you don’t want to.”  His words came out harsher than he intended.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, and you’re the key to our survival, apparently.  Humanity’s Strongest, the Commander called you.  Well, you’re not going to drive yourself into a breakdown right before we’re going to need you to lead us.”  Valkyrie reminded him of Hange at times.  And because of that, Levi knew she wasn’t saying something.  He didn’t care.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He just couldn’t deal with the silence anymore.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Levi stayed in the car while Valkyrie went to her front door and hugged her parents and sister on the porch.  The sun set behind the house, casting colors in the sky like Levi had never seen before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie had put the radio on, and Levi listened to a man talk about someone named Flannery and something called Twitter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The air smelled fresher here than in Roarhaven, almost like...salt.  Levi got out of the car.  The noise felt as meaningless as the silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As meaningless as a promise to a dead man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi could turn his back on the world.  He could stay here.  Make a life, get a house with a TV.  But could he live with leaving the rest of the people within the walls to their fate? Could he leave families not knowing what had happened to their loved ones?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If no one ever found his body, they’d assume a Titan finally got him, either crushed him to mush and gristle against the hard-packed dirt and grass around the town, or ate him and vomited him back up.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wished Hange were here.  Someone he could talk to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi followed the path near Valkyrie’s house.  It didn’t take him long to find the source of the salty smell.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Water stretched from the end of a pier to the horizon.  Levi dipped his hand in and sniffed it.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>Salt.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>A body of water, so large that even merchants couldn’t dredge the salt from it in a hundred years.  Armin had said something about that.  He’d called it the sea.  He and Eren had made a promise to see it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Was this it?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What a fucked-up world.  Kids with energy and enthusiasm even after seeing the worst darkness in the world had dreamed of this moment, and instead, a jaded soldier sat where they could have.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi grabbed a rock and chucked it into the wave, letting his anger go with it.  He just felt sadness.  Hange would love this.  He needed them right now.  They were, quite possibly, his only friend besides  Erwin.  His only friend at all right now.  Maybe the only person in two universes he could care about, or maybe even claim to love.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi didn’t know how long he sat, staring at the water, before someone sat down next to him.  “You caused a small panic,” she said, then tapped something out on her phone.  “Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi didn’t want to answer that question.  “Is this the sea?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie’s eyes widened.  “You’ve never seen the ocean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This cadet found a book somewhere that talked about it.  He always said he was going to see it.”  Of course, he never would now.  “Nobody believed him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t imagine not believing in the ocean.  Then again, I’ve lived next to it my entire life.  As a kid, my friends and I would jump off the end of this pier.  There’s rocks right underneath the surface, so you have to get a running start.”  Valkyrie looked at peace for a moment, then shook her head.  “But that was years ago.”  She stood up and extended a hand to Levi.  “Come on.  Hopefully we’ll get to see the sea in your universe too.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Shunt</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>They arrived at the Sanctuary before dawn and received their gear.  Valkyrie and Levi arrived last.  Valkyrie strapped two swords across her back, where she normally wore her shock sticks, and put a short sceptre with a black crystal embedded on a holster hanging from her belt.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The others came with similar arms, art from Hange.  Their ODM gear had been repaired and reinforced with magic fabrics and enchanted blades.  The engineers made the same alterations to Levi’s gear too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The entire room felt somber.  So different from the last mission Levi had gone on.  None of the excitement or hope of victory filled the room.  For the others, this wasn’t personal.  They’d come back and forget.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi would never forget.  And neither would Hange, not with the scars on their face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He jerked himself out of his thoughts when someone touched his hand.  Hange stood next to him, his hand in theirs.  “We’re going to kill them all,” they whispered.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When China Sorrows arrived and wished them well, everyone joined hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then they were gone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They landed inside Shinganshina’s outer wall.  Right inside the war zone.  Destroyed buildings and the former residents’ belongings littered the ground.  The sun began to rise above the horizon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie’s breath caught in her throat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck,” Hange said under their breath.  “We need to take shelter and assess the situation.  Abnormals controlled by the Beast Titan can move at night.  However, if they think the Scout Regiment is too destroyed to return, they may have left the area.”  They fired their hooks into the roof of the nearest stable structure and clambered on top.  Levi followed them closely, while Skulduggery flew overhead, Fletcher followed them by teleporting from roof to roof with Luke. and Valkyrie and Tanith ran through the remains of the streets.  Hange stopped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“On the other side of the wall, there is a cellar, allegedly containing the secrets of the Walls.  Our mission in Shiganshina was to collect something from that basement.  If we work quickly, we might be able to recover it.”  They looked at Levi.  </span>
  <em>
    <span>Our comrades might not have died for nothing</span>
  </em>
  <span>.  “Levi and I have maps.  We can stay there until we know it’s safe to proceed through the rest of Shiganshina.  We’ll have to move through open areas at night, since we don’t have horses to outrun the Titans.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Or, we could just teleport,” Fletcher called over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Or we could do that.  But we have to get whatever’s in that cellar.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want to fight a Titan,” Tanith said.  “Anyone else?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie shrugged.  She looked haunted, as if she’d seen this place before.  It figured, considering the luxury of the other universe, that she’d never seen death and destruction like this before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This isn’t a sightseeing trip.” Levi felt the need to remind the sorcerers of that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s go,” Hange said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They started finding bodies closer to the Wall.  Exposure to battle and to the elements had left them nearly unrecognizable. Fletcher and Luke had stumbled across the first one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’d screamed.  Now Luke stood somewhere, vomiting, and Fletcher refused to look at it.  He’s become ghostly pale.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi ripped the patch from what remained of the soldier’s arm and put it in his pocket.  “We can’t do anything for them.  The other side of the wall is going to be worse.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When I said I wanted to go on adventures, I didn’t expect them to be so bloody,” Luke croaked.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get used to it.  We should cover our noses and mouths,” Levi said.  “These things have been out in the elements for days.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They regrouped on a corpse-free roof a few streets away.  Levi and Hange began to cut their capes into strips.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How many soldiers did you come with?” Valkyrie asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Around 200,” Hange said.  They handed a piece of cloth to Valkyrie.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I’m okay.  The mask seals in place.”  She pulled the hood up and over her face, and a skull mask settled into place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was just a little unnerving.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“As long as the hood is up, nothing can get through this.”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi knew enough about magic to figure he didn’t need to be skeptical of the claim.  Was there anything magic couldn’t do?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ooh...” Hange reached for the suit, to touch it, then yanked their hand back.  “Okay, focus.”  They passed strips of green fabric to everyone but Skulduggery, who said he didn’t need to breathe, then continued on, Levi on point and Skulduggery overhead.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Within the Walls</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When they reached the top of the wall, the morning sun shone over the landscape.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If the other side of the wall had looked bad, this side looked like the apocalypse.  The Beast Titan’s boulders had crushed people and buildings into rubble.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hange studied the map and looked over the city. Their hands shook.  “They didn’t stand a chance once we were gone,” they whispered to Levi.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi couldn’t think about that.  Not now.  They still had a job to do.  “Jaeger’s house should be somewhere over there.”  He pointed to a spot somewhere just off the center of the city.  “Hopefully the cellar is still accessible.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If it’s not, we can make it accessible.  Right, Fletcher?” Tanith said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fletcher scowled at her.  “I am not your taxi.  I’m a teacher.  I’m not even supposed to be here.  I was done with dead bodies after Devastation Day.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, too bad,” Levi said.  “You’re here now.  Are you going to sit around and whine like a cadet, or are you going to make your ass useful?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fletcher sighed and gestured to the others.  “Your trained soldiers are over there, sir.  Don’t forget that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi opened his mouth to say something else, but Hange put their hand on his shoulder.  “We’ll get there somehow, Fletcher or no.  Time to get a move on.  As a small group, we’re unlikely to draw human or Titan attention over here, but I don’t want to take a chance.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Commander took off down the wall.  The others followed them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hange was right.  Bodies everywhere on the other side of the wall. Everywhere.  Horses, people -- everything in the ruins of Shiganshina had been indiscriminately butchered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi didn’t try to identify the remains.  He didn’t look at them, if he could avoid it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hange hid their face from the others.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone, save Skulduggery, seemed disturbed.  The mood had darkened, and it hadn’t been all that bright in the first place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amazingly, the door to the cellar hadn’t been destroyed or blocked with rubble.  Tanith stepped up.  “Allow me,” she said, then touched it.  Levi heard the lock click open, and she opened the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skulduggery clicked his fingers and Valkyrie let lightning dance across her palm.  Luke and Fletcher grabbed their lights from their bags.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then they stepped through.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At first, Levi felt betrayed.  This place was a doctor’s study, not filled with world-shaking information.  The medicines had probably expired.  Everything looked the same way as it had five years ago when Jaeger got the key.  A moment frozen in time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everybody begin searching.  There has to be a key somewhere.  Something hidden,” Hange ordered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie and Tanith went to one side of the room, while Luke and Fletcher went to the other.  Skulduggery held out his palm and walked slowly around the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi and Hange examined the supposedly-solid walls.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing?” Levi asked the skeleton.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Feeling the air.”  He crept slowly towards the desk.  “There’s a pocket in there.  Feels like an extra drawer.”  Skulduggery tapped a finger against one of the drawers.  It sounded hollow.  “Tanith, if you wouldn’t mind?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She touched it and unlocked it.  Skulduggery withdrew the drawer from the desk and tapped it.  Effortlessly, he found the ridge and lifted the false bottom, revealing three journals underneath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s it,” Hange breathed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skulduggery took the books to the larger workspace and spread them out on the table.  He used his flames to light candles.  Hange opened the cover of the green journal, picking up something taped to the inside cover.  They bit their lip, thinking.  “This is something from your dimension...not a phone…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie looked over their shoulder.  “Photograph.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But it’s not from our dimension.”  Skulduggery grabbed Fletcher’s flashlight and brought it closer to the photo.  “This is old.  This kind of technology hasn’t been used in many years.  It doesn’t prove that there might be people outside the walls, but it’s a piece of evidence towards that conclusion.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tanith took the photo from Skulduggery, examining it.  “Yeah, these kinds of cameras were around when I was a kid.  The only photos like this are in museums or reproduced in books.  So I doubt this person got it from our universe.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tanith is around 90 years old,” Skulduggery added.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Hange said, then began poking at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Focus!” Levi chided the Commander.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s no hurry,” they said.  “Closer to sundown, we’ll get to the edge of town and start heading through the open.  We’ll get to the forest by morning, and then we can get to Wall Rose from there.  We have the luxury of time.  We don’t have the luxury of risk.  I am not losing anyone else.  So let’s read.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And they sat down, flipped the first page of the green journal, and did exactly as they said.  Valkyrie took the blue, and Fletcher the red.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For a few hours, it was mostly silent, except for people whispering and trading books.  Finally, Luke got bored.  He let the rest of the group know by saying, “This is boring.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Thank you for your opinion,” Valkyrie answered, now nearing the end of the red journal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know what we can do,” Tanith said, from where she sat on the ceiling, not holding one of the journals at all, but a pack of cards.  She’d started playing Solitaire.  Tanith flipped down to the floor.  The cards rained on the people below.  “Let’s set up some of these jars and bet on who can hit the most.  Valkyrie with her lightning, Skulduggery with fire, or one of the mortals with their hooks.  Or we could spar.  Or actually play cards.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Or you don’t leave the cellar and do something useful.” Levi said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like what?” Tanith asked.  “There’s only three books and the light in here is shit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about all those books over there?” Fletcher didn’t look up from his journal and gestured to the shelf.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Boring.  In case you can’t tell, I’m not exactly the reading type.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think everyone could tell,” Luke added unnecessarily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone glared at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The smart ones in the group used the afternoon to sleep.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally, the sun started to sink in the sky and Hange let Tanith go out to scout.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s all clear,” she said when she returned.  They gathered their gear and headed out, approaching the site of the explosion.</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“What caused this?” Valkyrie asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A Titan-Shifter named Bertolt,” Hange said bitterly.  “My squad died here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi noticed that they’d become jumpy and sharp.  He put a hand on their shoulder and they yelped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go on,” Levi said to the others.  Once they’d crossed the crater in the streets, he turned to Hange.  “You can’t lose it now.  Keep it together.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They all died here,” Hange murmured, not meeting his eye.  “Marlene’s and Dirk’s squads too.  Do you wonder if we’re walking on their ashes?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.  We don’t have the time to think about that.  We have to think about the mission.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How can you be so cold?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi couldn’t meet their eyes.  “We’ll have time to grieve when everyone is safe.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t do this on my own, Levi.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally, he looked at them.  “You’re not.  Whatever you need, I’ll do it.  Just say the word.”  And he followed the sorcerers through the ruins.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It hadn’t rained since they’d gone to the other dimension.  Levi knew this because the grass at the edge of the town still had blood stains on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skulduggery floated just above the ground, keeping his suit immaculate.  Valkyrie walked beside him.  “This is just like Devastation Day,” she whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Skulduggery said.  “And just like then, the people were woefully inequipped to fight their enemy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is just so stupid!” Valkyrie snapped.  “Why does everything have to end in blood and violence?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s the way the world works, Val,” Tanith said, placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder.  “There’s no way around it.  And you just need to choose who you fight for.  Because if you choose not to fight, you’re just giving everything up to the enemy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As they walked, Levi watched the horizon.  Some Titans moved, but none ran.  They either couldn’t see or smell the people, or had become sluggish during the twilight hours.  One made a dash for them, then fell on its face and flailed in place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke screamed.  “There’s intestines on my foot!  Oh my god, I just stepped on someone’s internal organs!  Oh god oh god oh god!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Knock it off!” Hange snapped.  They stormed over to him, limping.  “They died!  They died to buy us time because it was the only thing they could do!  They--”  Hange stopped, covered their mouth, and sat down slowly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi ran towards them.  The other sorcerers too, drawing their weapons.  The Titans drew closer.  Fletcher grabbed Luke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nooooo,” they moaned.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even in the dim light, Levi recognized the corpse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Erwin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, no, no,” the new Commander muttered, slamming their fist into the ground.  “No!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi felt overwhelmed.  The only man who’d ever acted like a father to him was gone.  The one who’d risked sacrificing everything just because he saw potential in a pathetic little bandit.  The one who’d ultimately put everything on the line for...nothing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sank to his knees next to Hange.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi felt numb.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is not a good time for this,” Fletcher muttered.  “Maybe you should get up…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hange got to their feet, stabilizing themself against Levi.  “Two four meters…” they muttered.  “Skeleton, girl, just stop them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was no argument as Skulduggery and Valkyrie ran across the field towards the nearest Titans.  But Levi couldn’t watch them fight.  He just looked at Erwin’s dead, destroyed body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This war would take everything from them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If it hadn’t already.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They had to keep moving.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi wanted to scrub himself raw after the experience with Erwin’s corpse.  Maybe it would wipe his mind.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But they weren’t near water, though Skulduggery filtered the moisture from the air for them to drink.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They sat on branches.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“For what it’s worth,” Tanith said, “I’m sorry.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Hange, still exhausted from their injury, leaned against Levi and fell asleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi couldn’t sleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He watched the skeleton keep watch, and wished he could watch too.  That he didn’t need sleep.  That everything didn’t bother him so much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But it did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And unfortunately, he had to live with it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They would stay in the forest for the rest of the day, since Hange said no one would be looking for them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We don’t have horses.  We travel at night.  That’s final!” They snapped.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then what did they die for?” Levi argued. “Those books.  We need to get them to Trost as soon as possible.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And if we die?  No one explains the sorcerers.  No one explains the books. The people with the resources we need are executed.  We don’t have a Scout Regiment anymore, Levi!  You and I, we’re it! If they died for the books, I want to make sure no one else dies.  Not by Titans, not by combat.  Not with some dumbass tripping over their intestines, got it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi had never seen Hange this angry before.  He crossed his arms and sat down.  Titans would gather by the bottom of the tree throughout the day.  They’d either need to teleport away from them or cut them down to get out of the forest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Titans, the dumbasses, couldn’t climb.  So they’d be safe all day as long as they stayed in the fucking tree.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi wanted to leave the fucking tree and take out his anger and grief on the Titans below.  But this wasn’t his squad, and according to Hange, not his fight anymore.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re intense today.  I mean, we all are, but they’re especially intense.”  Fletcher must have teleported to the branch without Levi noticing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fletcher held up his hands.  “I’m just making an observation.  Clearly you are also intense today, not that I blame you, but you know,” he leaned closer, “I think Valkyrie cheats at cards.  I don’t know how I’d know if she was reading my mind, but she says I would.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi had no idea how to answer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anyway, if we start gambling and she takes all my earthly belongings, you can stop that, please?  Thanks!”  And he teleported back to the branch on which they played cards and/or attempted to throw them at the Titans below, only for Skulduggery to use wind to save the card.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie lightly punched Fletcher’s arm, then the group laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If Levi had ever had friends like that, they were all dead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And the only survivor refused to talk to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The only one not playing was Luke.  He read the books.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Levi!  Come play!” Valkyrie waved him over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi shook his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Someone had to keep watch, and Hange was too busy sulking to do it properly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They said they didn’t want anyone else to die, but if they kept their bullshit up, they’d be dead sooner rather than later.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Truth or Dare</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>At nightfall, Hange had Fletcher teleport the group halfway across the field, letting them get away from the Titans around the trees.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They had to move quickly.  They’d hit a couple of abandoned buildings and villages, but nothing until Wall Rose.  No great way to escape if cornered aside from teleportation.  And if Fletcher was exhausted or injured, that was out of the question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So this time, they had no other option but to move on foot in a group with Fletcher and Luke at the center.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hange stayed back.  Levi lead the way.  He figured they were still mad at him and not talking.  Which was fine, even if he thought it was stupid.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everything here looks like the apocalypse,” Tanith muttered.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke began singing a stupid song and then Valkyrie practically tackled him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Guys!  Back on track!” Hange called.  “Some Abnormals can move at night!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Commander, are you okay?” Valkyrie asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi turned.  Hange had fallen behind.  They limped, trying to catch up, illuminated by flashlights.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.  Keep going.  The Wall isn’t far from here on horseback, but it’s going to be much further on foot.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We need to find a cart or something,” Levi said.  “You’re just slowing us down.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hange stopped and crossed their arms.  “A cart.  In the dark.  In a destroyed town.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Or something else.  Don’t be a bitch.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Carry me, then.  You could do it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hange stalked up to Levi.  If nothing else, their injuries made their gait seem slightly demented.  Erwin hadn’t had that problem.  He’d maintained his dignity through everything.  Even an idiot stepping on his intestines.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, so before you two start this again,” Skulduggery said, “I can and have carried people before on journeys.  Mostly Valkyrie, because she complains.  I don’t get tired.  If you would be so inclined?” Skulduggery motioned to Hange.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks,” they said, and Levi wondered if he was the only one who could see the cracks in their invisible armor and the pain seeping out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie retrieved a pain relief leaf from her bag, one of the ones preferred by the sorcerers and handed it to Hange.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skulduggery picked them up and they rode on his shoulders without hampering the skeleton at all.  It was kind of impressive.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The rest of the walk to the wall was uneventful.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They stopped in some ruins near the wall.  The light from the city couldn’t be seen outside the walls, unlike Roarhaven’s.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can still see the stars like this close to the city.  It’s pretty amazing,” Fletcher said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie nodded.  “It’s like this in the Leibniz Universe too.  Except not nearly as nice, because people are usually trying to kill us there.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can find some really remote islands, mountains, places near the poles with sights like this,” Fletcher continued.  He began pointing out the constellations, but used different words.  Found different star formations.  Levi couldn’t help but try to see what he saw.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, everyone!” Hange had climbed on the remnants of a windowsill.  “Skulduggery, Fletcher, and I will go over the wall with Skulduggery’s abilities and fly to the Scout Regiment headquarters.  Once Fletcher has seen it, he’ll teleport back for the rest of you.  We shouldn’t be gone for more than twenty or thirty minutes.  If we’re not back by midday tomorrow, and you hear cannon fire, we’re probably dead.  If we don’t return and there’s no cannon fire, we’re probably captured.  In either case, you head for the wall and find the gate and take your chances with the MPs and the Garrison.  Understood?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A chorus of affirmatives met their announcement.  Levi nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And, as they said on the radio...see you on the flip side!”  Hange’s brief grin was genuine.  They turned, jumped out the window and swore when they landed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fletcher and Skulduggery looked at each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t do anything stupid,” Skulduggery said, then tapped his collarbones.  A face covered his skull.  An unassuming blonde man with a too-small nose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wouldn’t stick out.  Levi nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye.”  Fletcher waved, grabbed Skulduggery’s gloved hand, then teleported.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The rest of the group waited around for a few awkward minutes.  Finally, Tanith stood.  “Let’s play ‘Never Have I Ever’.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We don’t have anything to drink,” Valkyrie said.  “No point in playing without that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Truth or Dare, then,” Tanith said.  She eyed Levi.  “Are you down?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Someone needs to keep an eye out,” Levi answered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chill out, hard-ass,” Tanith said.  “You can play from over there if you want.  But you haven’t played any games with us so far, and I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer.  Since I’m starting the game, I’ll go first.  Valkyrie, truth.  Fletcher or Militsa?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Militsa.  The thing with Fletcher...it just wasn’t meant to happen like that, you know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tanith nodded sagely.  “As a woman with my experience, believe me, I know.  Now you pick someone, Valkyrie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie thought for a minute.  “Levi, truth.  Are you and Hange a thing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A thing?” Levi knew what she meant.  He just wanted her to say it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dating.  In love.  A casual hookup.  Do any of those terms apply?” Tanith interjected.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I have to tell the truth?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Tanith, Valkyrie, and Luke said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie wiggled her eyebrows.  “I’ll know if you lie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are we doing this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because I said so,” Tanith said.  “Now spill.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know what we are.  Valkyrie, truth.  Why don’t you spend more time at the ocean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie shrugged.  “Busy, I guess.”  She didn’t look at Levi.  “And I killed the vampire that wanted to date me there.  I don’t like killing things.  And I don’t like vampires. And I don’t feel like I deserve to see my family, so I don’t go anymore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“At least you have a family,” Levi responded.  He remembered Kenny dying against a tree.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>An awkward moment of silence filled the air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luke, dare.” Valkyrie grinned forcefully.  “Go outside and do ‘Come at me, bro’ for the Titans.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you freaking serious?” Luke asked, as Levi stood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do not do anything to the Titans.  The Commander said we couldn’t afford losses at any cost.  Especially not because of a stupid game.”  Levi couldn’t stop his voice from rising in warning.  He stood up, ready to stop the sorcerers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tanith grinned.  “It’s harmless.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t actually approach any Titans, Luke,” Valkyrie amended.  “Now come on.”  She took the teleporter’s hand and led him out to an open spot a few yards away.  Tanith grinned and grabbed Levi’s wrist as he moved to follow them.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the hell?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not dangerous.  Takes a few seconds.  It’s gonna be funny.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie jogged back to the others.  “Go!” she shouted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke glanced back.  Then he took off his shirt, waved his arms wide, and pounded his chest with his hands.  “Come at me, bro!” he shouted into the wilderness.  “Come at me bro!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke put on his shirt and jogged back.  Tanith giggled.  Valkyrie grinned at Levi.  “Not dangerous at all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luke’s face was beet-red.  “Did you have to make me do something involving Titans?” he asked.  “Those things are freaky.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just pick someone already!” Tanith sat back down on the dirt floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine.”  Luke grinned.  “Tanith, dare.  Kiss me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tanith held her hands in the air.  “I have a boyfriend, I’ll have you know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And yet, you still got the dare.”  This time, Valkyrie sat on the edge of her seat.  “And besides, things that happen in other dimensions don’t count as cheating.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tanith waved a finger at Valkyrie.  “You do not get to decide what counts as cheating!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you all could stop arguing,” Luke said and pointed at his face, “I’m ready.”  He closed his eyes and puckered his lips like a fish.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked ridiculous.  Luke wasn’t cut out for this life.  At all.  And from what Levi could see, he knew it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the group needed him.  And maybe even kind of liked him, although the sorcerers would never admit it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tanith walked over, gave him a quick peck on the cheek, then wiped her mouth and spit.  “Oh my god, no one else ask me for a kiss.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh come on!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You haven’t showered in several days.  And you’re not my boyfriend.  Ergo, gross.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The game was interrupted by Fletcher’s reappearance in the doorway.  “What’s going on here?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Something called Truth or Dare,” Levi said, over Valkyrie and Tanith’s giggling.  “I don’t understand why they think it’s so funny.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But it still tugged at his heart as he remembered the cadets acting with that sort of childish glee and abandon.  Their spirits had been bruised by the time they’d joined the Scouts, but not broken.  If they hadn’t died, they would have either died or become jaded in a matter of time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fletcher nodded.  “Okay, so we reached your base and some crazy girl tried to kill us until she saw Hange.  Turns out a handful of people survived the battle after all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi’s breath caught in his throat.  He could feel everyone’s eyes on him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’d better get going then,” Valkyrie said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone stood around Fletcher and held hands, and vanished.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Why yes, yes, I did have fun with this.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Headed Straight For The Castle</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>This teleportation went more easily than the first, for the simple reason that no one vomited this time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fletcher said it happened a lot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Several shrieks and one “What the hell?” greeted the group that landed in the dining room.  A cup shattered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cool, right?” Hange said.  They grinned like a lunatic.  “Fletcher told you there were survivors, right?  There’s survivors!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The survivors didn’t seem thrilled.  Then again, they were probably still in shock about the teleporting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi could see Jaeger, Ackerman, Springer, Floch, and Kirschstein in the mess hall, all dressed in their night clothes.  Mikasa held her knife in one hand and watched, suspicious as always.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>For a moment, the sound of water boiling filled the silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, everyone sit down and listen up!”  Hange waited for Connie to grab the teapot and return to the table.  “At Shinganshina, when Bertolt transformed, Captain Levi and I found ourselves in another universe.  They have concluded that the Titan Shifters are working with someone from their dimension, and from the evidence, I think they’re right.  At some point during the battle, a Shunter like Luke touched Levi and I, taking us to the Prime Dimension after a short delay.  We ended up in a walled city called Roarhaven full of sorcerers -- people who can use magic, just like in children’s stories.  They also have people that can’t do magic that live outside the walls.  Anyway, the leader there has offered aid.  I don’t think we have any way we can refuse it with the state of our forces and the information we brought back from Shinganshina.  Skulduggery?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Skulduggery pulled the books from his bag and placed them on the table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We found these books in your father’s cellar, Eren” Hange said.  They pushed the pile across the table to him.  “We went back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kid looked like his eyes would fall out of his head.  Cautiously, he began to open one.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Long story short, there are people outside the walls.  And they want to kill us because there’s the potential for people of our race, the Eldians, to turn into intelligent Titans.  After a great war, we were sent to this island, Paradis, where the Eldians just wanted to be left alone.  So the leaders used the power of the Founding Titans to build the walls and brainwash everyone into thinking that they were the last people on Earth.  But there are people outside the walls -- more advanced people, like in the Prime Dimension -- and they hate us to this day.  The Titans that attack our walls are their prisoners being punished for dissenting, to keep us down and from returning to the rest of the world.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would we be able to get to the sea one day?” Eren asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Theoretically, yes!  And we’ve got more than a snowflake’s chance in Hell with these kinds of allies.”  Hange looked over at the sorcerers.  “Except there’s a catch.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s always a catch,” Jean muttered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We are currently under threat from another universe called the Leibniz Universe,” Skulduggery said.  “The Supreme Mage wants you to act as escorts and defense for the refugees and those otherwise not suited to combat, should war break out.  Fortunately, Roarhaven is well-fortified.  Unfortunately, the leader of the sorcerers in that universe is really mad at us.  And, as Valkyrie says, ‘Magic Hitler’.”  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>People mostly looked confused at that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, they don’t have Hitler.  Ignore that last bit.  If he gets through our fortifications, things will get bad.  If he does not, your job will be relatively safe.  Either way, the Supreme Mage has you backed into a corner no matter how you slice it.  You have an entire world out there that wants to kill you.  Numbers alone don’t make a strategy, but having more of them -- and having magic in a world without it -- helps a lot.  Especially since you don’t have the technology.  Don’t feel bad.  This is just what the Supreme Mage does.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I agree,” Levi said.  “It’s not ideal.  But we need the support.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait.  Sounds like the Supreme Mage is poised to take advantage of us!” Eren said.  “Why should we accept that?  If there’s multiple universes, there’s got to be one that will help us without asking our soldiers to die for them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” Luke said, raising one hand.  “That’s not how it works.  There are infinite universes -- which means infinite universes which support life as we know it, and infinite universes which do not.  Finding your universe was a crapshoot.  Finding the Leibniz Universe even more so.    And the Leibniz Universe won’t help you because you’re not sorcerers.  I mean, it’s a low bar to say your universe is nicer than theirs.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, we can get the intricacies out of the way later,” Hange said.  “Cadets, introduce yourselves to our guests.  They’ll be staying alongside you at the castle as your colleagues.  For now, treat them as you would your fellow soldiers.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The cadets, the last survivors, introduced themselves reluctantly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi understood their distrust.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorcerers?  Names and ranks.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Valkyrie Cain, Arbiter.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Skulduggery Pleasant, also an Arbiter.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tanith Low, no rank.”  She shrugged.  “I’m a free agent.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fletcher Renn, schoolteacher?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luke Skywalker.  I work for the American Sanctuary.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re not really soldiers,” Valkyrie said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Find some empty rooms and get our guests settled in.  We’ll go to Trost in a few hours.  Connie, you’ll bring them the message.  Tell the Queen directly.  Everyone else, back to bed.”  Hange limped out of the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi stayed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wanted to see what happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s the point if you’re not soldiers?” Mikasa asked, after Hange had moved out of earshot.  “You’ll just hold us back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The others agreed with her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did they forget we went across all that land outside the walls without dying or something?” Luke asked the others.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Valkyrie shrugged.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It would appear so,” Skulduggery said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get to bed,” Levi said.  He stood, stopping any potential fight before it started.  The trainees hadn’t hesitated to brawl each other over disagreements, and they certainly would do the same with the sorcerers...who would probably happily accept.  “Stop harassing each other.  We don’t have a choice but to work together.  I don’t really care how you decide to do that, but you’re not doing it tonight.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next morning, everyone resumed the meeting in the dining hall, but refreshed and with time to process the changes in their circumstances. Levi roused some of the cadets to help him look through their dead colleagues’ spare clothes, and now the sorcerers looked just like the Scouts, for the most part.  They’d also cleaned themselves up, for which Levi was grateful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And Skulduggery still wore his suit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He did not wear a face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the hell?” Floch had screamed, the others following his lead either scrambled backwards or took up makeshift arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Relax,” Levi said, still sipping his tea.  “It’s magic or something.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Magic or something indeed,” Skulduggery said.  “I’m surprised no one has fainted.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Jean asked.  “What?  How does that even work?  Why is that a thing?”  His voice was high and nervous.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi supposed that when you thought Titans were as bad as things could get, a walking skeleton was a whole new kind of surprise.  He hadn’t had the luxury to adjust to it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It works when your entire family is murdered, you’re tortured to death, and then some necromancer finds your bag of bones and uses you for an experiment.”  Skulduggery said this as if he were describing an average day.  “While the offering of clothes was rather kind, I prefer my suits, if you don’t mind?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not at all,” Hange said.  “Connie traded his job to Jean for so he could bring Sasha her breakfast instead.  I already told Jean what he needed to know.  So when Connie comes back, we’ll figure out what we need to do for today’s meeting.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A moment of silence, then talking.  Mostly whispers between the cadets, but occasionally the sorcerers were asked a question too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The cadets wanted to start a fight last night,” he said to Hange.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They always want to fight.  And I can’t really blame them.  After Armin, no one else had really been considered for command.  Must have been chaos around here. Especially since the situation doesn’t look good from the outside.  How could a bunch of inexperienced soldiers survive that battle while all the veterans and their superiors died or vanished, if you know what I mean.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi did know what they meant.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Connie arrived and immediately started to argue with Eren about the last piece of bread, and Hange stood.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Listen up,” they said, and the entire room stopped goofing off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Today we go to Trost to discuss the outcome of the Battle of Shiganshina with the top military officials from within the Walls, including the sorcerers’ offer of aid and the information in the books from the cellar.  We will be dressed formally for the occasion.  Jean is supposed to return with two horses.  We’ll use them to pull a cart with the sorcerers concealed inside.  Otherwise, we’ll draw too much attention.  Not that we won’t already, but people talk.”  Their expression softened for a moment.  “Everyone needs to expect to be questioned.  The situation is too absurd to think otherwise.  The hearing might last multiple days, so bring a small bag.  No weapons.  If something happens, we’ll restock with Trost’s supplies.  Two hours, and we’ll arrive by noon.  We’re getting so close to figuring out what’s going on.  We can’t give up now.  None of the sacrifices will be in vain!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They saluted, and the cadets saluted back.  Even the sorcerers joined in.</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The hearing lasted four days.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the end, the Scout Regiment received assistance from the Garrison to continue to kill Titans with the guillotines Commander Hange and Eren had constructed upon the walls so long ago.  The sorcerers went outside the Walls, using Valkyrie’s powers to canvass the land, to find and kill Titans away from the walls.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By spring, the sounds of the guillotine had stopped.  Valkyrie struggled, exhausting herself trying to find more Titans over larger space.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are they really all dead?” Eren Jaeger wondered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Were they dead, indeed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Levi figured Titans would probably never stop coming from Marley.  Therefore, they’d never be dead.  But it looked like there might not be any more coming.  It looked like the economic and morale advantages of expanding back into forgotten territory might overcome the risk of the occasional Titan attack -- something previously never considered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even when they found Titans, the Scouts weren’t in so much danger.  Many seemed feeble and disfigured, unable to move, much less reach a person on the ground or run at breathtaking speed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sorcerers’ abilities proved invaluable in leading targeted attacks, planning routes, and creating new strategies.  For once, people really had hope, even if the future costs seemed high.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One day, the Scout Regiment left to see how far they could go, to see how many Titans were really around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For the first time, a Scout Regiment operation was considered low risk.  No one had ever thought they’d see the day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No one had ever thought they’d see the sea, either.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Having hope felt unreal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe everything could remain unreal just a little while longer.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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